Mumbai, March 11 Top contender Lakshya Sen came back from behind to win against Chinese Taipei’s Su Li-yang even as compatriot H.S. Prannoy crashed out of the prestigious All-England Badminton Championship, losing to Toma Junior Popov of France in straight games in a first-round clash in Birmingham on Tuesday.
It was a mixed day for India as Malvika Bansod progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the BWF Super 1000 tournament after a hard-fought victory over Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min. In the mixed doubles, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath failed to progress beyond the first round after a 21-6, 21-15 defeat against the People’s Republic of China’s Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui.
It was Lakshya Sen who kept the Tricolour flying after Prannoy's early exit as he advanced to the second round. Lakshya, who slipped five places to 15th in the latest men’s singles badminton rankings, beat Su Li-yang 13-21, 21-17, 21-15 in an hour and 15 minutes.
After dropping the first game and trailing 11-7 in the second, Lakshya Sen, an All-England finalist from two years ago, rallied to win the next six points and took the match into the decider. He rode the momentum and went on to the match, breaking away from 15-15 by picking up six consecutive points to beat world No. 37 Su Li-yang.
Prannoy, who won a bronze medal in men's singles in the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen and silver in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, went down 21-19, 21-16 to the 26-year-old World No. 17.
The 32-year-old Prannoy started the match on a solid note as he rushed to a 5-1 lead in Game One before the French player caught up with him at 6-6. The two players went neck-and-neck till 11-11. Prannoy opened up a lead of 15-12 but Popov again caught up at 16-16 and 18-18. The Frenchman then won the next three points to seal the first game.
The second game was also close at the start with Popov enjoying a slight edge till 7-6 after which opened up a 13-9 lead. Prannoy levelled scores at 13-13 but his rival won three points in a row to take a 16-13 lead and went on to win the game 21-16 and sealed victory in 53 minutes.
Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the BWF Super 1000 tournament after a hard-fought victory over Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min in an hour and three minutes. World No. 28 Malvika Bansod upset Yeo Jia Min, 12th in the women’s singles rankings, by a 21-13, 10-21, 21-17 scoreline to move into the next round.
Two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu will spearhead the Indian campaign in the women's singles. Currently 15th in the women’s singles rankings, Sindhu will return to the court for the first time since the Indonesia Masters in January.
In the men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty is the seventh seed and will be starting their campaign against Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard of Denmark in the first round. The world No. 7 Indian pair haven’t played together competitively since January’s Indonesia Masters. In women's doubles, two-time All-England semifinalists Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, along with Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa and Priya Konjengbam-Shruti Mishra, are India’s entries.
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